Department of Psychology University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Horm Behav. 2012 Jan;61(1):100-7. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.10.009. Epub 2011 Nov 9.
Female assessment of male attractiveness and how preferred qualities impact reproductive success is central to the study of mate choice. Male attractiveness may depend on traits beneficial to the reproductive success (RS) of any female, termed 'universal quality', and/or on behavioral and biological interactions between potential mates that reflect 'compatibility'. The steroid hormone testosterone (T) often underlies male attractiveness in rodents and is associated with enhanced paternal care in the monogamous and biparental California mouse (Peromyscus californicus). We hypothesized that (1) T-characteristics are universally attractive to female California mice and that (2) if reproductive success is higher for females mated with preferred males, then females mated with males preferred by other females will also have higher reproductive success. Alternatively, we speculated that pair compatibility, based on emergent pair qualities, is important for a species with coordinated offspring care. We assessed individual T-characteristics in three ways: (1) T-response to GnRH challenges (2) baseline T-level and (3) T-response to a female. Testosterone-response did not predict female preference, but females spent more time investigating males with higher baseline T (accounting for only 9.6% of the variation in investigation time). None of the T-measures was associated with RS. Females paired with males they preferred produced litters more quickly and had higher RS than females paired with their non-preferred males. Naïve females who did not undergo preference tests had equivalent RS regardless of whether their mate was preferred or non-preferred by another female. These data suggest that higher male T elicits investigation, but female preference in the California mouse is more strongly linked with compatibility because individual preference was a better predictor of RS than any T measure.
女性对男性吸引力的评估以及偏好品质如何影响生殖成功是伴侣选择研究的核心。男性吸引力可能取决于有利于任何女性生殖成功（RS）的特征，称为“普遍品质”，以及潜在伴侣之间反映“兼容性”的行为和生物学相互作用。类固醇激素睾酮（T）通常是啮齿动物中男性吸引力的基础，并且与一夫一妻制和双亲加利福尼亚鼠（Peromyscus californicus）中的增强父爱有关。我们假设（1）T 特征对加利福尼亚雌性老鼠普遍具有吸引力，并且（2）如果与首选雄性交配的雌性 RS 更高，那么与其他雌性首选雄性交配的雌性也将具有更高的 RS。或者，我们推测基于新兴的配对质量的配对兼容性对于具有协调后代护理的物种很重要。我们通过三种方式评估个体 T 特征：（1）对 GnRH 挑战的 T 反应，（2）基础 T 水平和（3）对雌性的 T 反应。T 反应并不能预测雌性偏好，但雌性花更多的时间调查具有更高基础 T 的雄性（仅占调查时间变化的 9.6%）。T 测量值均与 RS 无关。与首选雄性配对的雌性比与非首选雄性配对的雌性更快地产下幼崽，并且 RS 更高。没有进行偏好测试的天真雌性，无论其伴侣是否受到另一只雌性的偏爱，其 RS 都相等。这些数据表明，较高的雄性 T 会引起调查，但加利福尼亚鼠的雌性偏好与兼容性的联系更为紧密，因为个体偏好比任何 T 测量值都更能预测 RS。
